For the Greater Good
by E. Strong
Summary: Join all of your original favorites, Jason, Zack and Tommy in an epic tale of good vs. evil that started that fateful day Zordon was transported into the dimensional warp and a search for a planets lost Queen brings new found Power to Earth.
1. Chapter 1

He didn't want to open his eyes but a steady high pitched _beep. beep. beep._ was piercing his slumber, rousing him from the dream he didn't want to wake from.

The woman in his arms he'd wanted to hold a little longer.

_No! _He thought to himself. _There's no time! We're outta time..._

He clutched the woman tighter and before his subconcious lost control of his mind, he held the woman at arms length willing himself to commit her face to memory and then...

_Beep. Beep. Beep._

The young man in bed rolled over onto his side and moaned. He opened his eyes, bleary against the rays of the sun and shot a hand deftly out and slapped it against the black alarm clock whos digital face read 6:45 AM.

"Gooood Morning! It's another beautiful day here in sunshiney Angel Grove, California! I'm DJ McMuffin spinning out the best tunes to mooove and grooove you to work or school or wherever you need to go this morning. Here's SNAP! with Rythem is a Dancer on KANG 91.7!" A techno beat soon pulsed from the radio alram clock and Jason Scott sat up in bed. He shook his head, trying to shake the grogginess that washed over him. He yawned and stretched his arms wide catching a glimpse of himself in the mirror attached to the dresser on the left side of the bed. He ran a hand through his short brown hair and yawned. He afforded a glance at the nightstand again and noticed the digital face on the clock now read 6:53 and with the natural resolve he possesed, swung his legs over the the bed and pushed himself up, begrudgingly ready to start the day.

Jason approched the dresser and grabbed the neccesities for a shower noticing that his shoulders and neck were tight. The right side of his rib cage was unusually tender. Jason glanced at his right side noting that the skin had a blueish black tinge to it. Yeah, he was bruised, that wasn't unusual. What was unusual was that he didn't remember getting the bruise. He turned his thoughts inward again and when he thought about it, he couldn't remember anything that happened yesterday. He remembered school. He remembered teaching his Karate class at the Youth Center. The thought of his communicator tugged at his mind and as he looked on the dresser in search of the watchlike device, he remembered that after the Youth Center he had come home, ate a light dinner and had gone straight to bed. He found his communicator and laid it next to his socks on top of the dresser.

Twenty minutes later he was dressed in black jeans, a red t-shirt and white high top sneakers. Picking up his communicator, Jason pulled back the plain white curtains of his bedroom window and looked at the house directly across the street to see one of his lifelong friends, Zackary Taylor step out onto the porch and close the door behind him. Jason clasped the metal band around his wrist. He spared a few moments to straighten out the sheets on his full sized bed, grabbed his red backpack, thudded down the stairs, shouted a cheery goodbye to his dark haired father and blond headed mother and out the front door he went.

Zack was waiting for him. Jason's face split into a grin.

"What up, my mans?" Zack asked as Jason cleared the last few steps of the porch easy.

"Nothing much man, ready to knock this day out."

They slapped hands and began walking in the direction of Angel Grove High. They walked in silence for a few moments, thier sneakers scuffing against the concrete.

"So," Jason asked, remembering suddenly."Angela? How did it go?"

Zack grinned but shook his head.

"Man, I couldn't do it, I chickened out. She's always rejecting me anyway, so you know, I didn't want to try anything because I didn't want to blow it."

"You mean you haven't told her that the reason you asked her to be your chemistry study partner is because you have a crush on her?"

Zack shook his head again. The silence resumed.

It was indeed a beautiful day in Angel Grove. The sun was shining in a clear blue sky. Little white, puffy clouds sailed along thier invisable paths, thier weird shapes casting giant shadows on the ground so far below. Jason couldn't shake the feeling that he was forgetting something incrediably important had happened.

"So, uh, Zack," Jason looked around making sure he and Zack weren't in earshot of anyone else. As they got closer to the brick building more and more teens could be seen walking in small groups towards the school. Satisfied that there was no one around, Jason continued in a hushed voice. "Nothing weird happened last night, right? Rita didn't try anything?"

Zack's smooth, dark face twisted in a look of confusion.

"Aye man, shhhh-" Zack stopped walking and turned towards Jason. "Don't mention her, she's been quiet for two weeks and I for one am enjoying being a normal teenager."

"Alright man," Jason said, embarassed slightly. They resumed thier walk. The high school loomed ahead.

"Why would you ask that though? You know if something did happen you would be the first one to know." Zack added giving his friend a sideways glance. He hitched his black backpack back on his shoulder. Sometimes he worried that the stress of being their leader would get to Jason. He shrugged off the feeling and said nothing further. He assumed Jason had asked out of concern.

"I just had this...feeling that something happened." Jason tried to explain it but found he lacked the words to do so without risking sounding idiotic. Zack had just told him nothing out of the ordinary happened last night, and he was right, if something did happen, Jason would be the first one to know.

Zack and Jason finally reached Angel Grove High. The occasional "Hey Zack!" or "Hey Jason!" rang out through the crowded hallways as the two young men made thier way to thier lockers. Zack waved at the pretty ebony beauty that was at his locker. Her dark hair spilled over her shoulders and her brown eyes lit up when she saw Zack approching. Jason didn't know what was holding Zack back, he thought Angela liked Zack as much as he liked her.

"I'll catch you later, bro." Jason said to Zack. They slapped hands again and went their separate ways.

Jason reached his locker. Putting in the combination he didn't notice the new person two lockers down. It wasn't until one his book for first period Biology had fallen from its perth in his locker to the scuffed floor that he noticed the apparent new girl.

She had been unfortunate enough to have a bottom half locker and it appeared as if she couldn't get the combination right. The girl, stooped in an awkward position jangled the lock furiously, finally resorting to beating the locker with her clenched fist.

Jason noted the the girl was unusually pretty. Her skin was a smooth cafe au lait. She had a mass of tight, dark auburn curls that was currently pulled back into a neat bun.

Closing his locker, Jason walked over and hunkered down next to the new girl.

"Need some help?" He asked.

Startled, the girl jumped up slightly, lost her balance and tumbled onto her back, her papers and pens flying out of her hands. Laughter immidiatly chorused through the hall and the girl stood quickly, trying to compose herself. Her creamy face was colored red from embarassment as she made her way further from her locker to pick up her supplies that had scattered everywhere.

Jason felt horrible and instantly rose to assist her. He gathered up what papers she hadn't and walked them back over to her.

"I'm really sorry, I didn't mean to scare you like that-"

She looked at him then causing him to stop mid sentence. Jason realized two things, the first being her remarkable golden colored eyes and the second was that he knew her. He didn't know from where or when but he was positive he knew her. She took the papers from his hands, mumbled a thank you and walked away. Her dark head soon blended into a crowd of high schoolers walking up a flight of stairs.

The bell for first period rang out then. He had three minutes to get to class before the second bell tolled. Jason made his way down the hall towards the science lab, his thoughts preoccupied with the girl in the hallway. How strange to have felt like he knew her when he couldn't remember where he'd recognized her from.

Maybe it was another one of Rita's tricks?

The wicked intergalatic sorceress was not afraid to stoop to any length in her pursuit of trying to take over the world. In the past school year since Jason and four of his closest friends had taken up the mantle of the Power Rangers, they had successfully thwarted Rita Repulsa's evil attempts to conquer Earth a total of 17 times.

The latest attempt, over two months ago, occured when a new student, Tommy Oliver had arrived at Angel Grove High. Rita had placed Tommy under a powerful mind altering spell, completely commanding him. Holding Tommy in her thrall, she bestowed to him the Dragonzord Power Coin, unleashing the legendary Green Ranger to the world. Tommy became twisted, green with evil almost. Together, he and his powerful Dragon Zord destroyed sections of Angel Grove and the surrounding towns and areas.

Jason slipped through the door and onto his assigned stool. The classroom was dark, the shades in the back of the room drawn down, cutting out the bright sunlight. The projector screen at the front of the room was down, covering the chalkboard. Movie time, Jason thought to himself as he pulled out his biology book. He let his thoughts once again wonder off as the classroom slowly filled.

Jason and the other Rangers finally defeated the Green Ranger and freed Tommy from Rita's mind control spell. Finding himself still able to weild the Dragonzord Power, but now able to think for himself, Tommy joined forces with Jason and the others and quickly became one of the gang.


	2. Chapter 2

**Authors Note**: No copyright infringement intended in the making of this story. Power Rangers belongs to Saban. Only the original character belongs to me.

Everything had come full circle it seemed. Jason thought as he heard the second bell ring. He went through the motions of getting out his notebook and opening it. He clicked the eraser on the mechanical pencil a couple of times and began to scrawl a few words across the page. It didn't matter, he knew Billy would let him copy any notes he needed. Besides, they'd been preparing for the state test all month, he was confident he'd score high, at least in Biology.

Mrs. Cuboard, a sassy twenty something, pleasantly plump woman, strode into the room.

"Good morning, Students." she said in a no nonsensey voice. Mrs. Cuboard was serious about her morning greetings.

"Good morning, Mrs. Cuboard." The class chimed more or less in unison.

"As you know, we have the ever important CSRT coming Wednesday and Thursday. Today and tomorrow will be reviews, reviews, reviews. I can not stress enough the importance of this test." Mrs. Cuboard went on to explain how the state scored the school on how well the students were learning and if the school failed the state requirements for a third time in a row, there would be lots of trouble.

"So, let's start with a few reviews! Jason Scott! Good morning!"

Jason popped his head up and smiled good naturedley.

"Morning, Mrs. C."

"Jason; Which method of fly population control is most harmful to other organisms in the environment?"

"Spraying broad-range insecticides. Gets on our crops, in our water."

Mrs. C pursed her lips and shook her head slightly.

"See, I knew you were paying attention. That's what I'm talking about-" she crossed the room, her wedge heeled shoes clunking against the old wooden floor. "Y'all kids will pass this time, I can feel it." She flicked on the projector that had been set up on one of the desk in front of Jason. "Juan, honey can you get the lights? Thank you. Now class, the test will consist of questions regarding-"

The rest of first period was spent reviewing, writing and answering questions. After first period came Geometry with Mr. McGlover. Jason struggled with Mathmatics and would be glad that this would be his last year taking a Math course. No sense in dragging out that option. Third period brought him once again back to the Science Labs with Chemistry. Fourth Period was English. Finally a class he enjoyed and all of his friends had somehow landed there as well.

Jason took his seat and anxiously waited for his friends to arrive. He didn't know why he felt like he hadn't seen them for a very long time, but it really had been just a few hours. Maybe it was because of the link they all shared. There was a bit of a thrill when they were all together and the Power Rangers were mentioned. Their shared looks of triumph and shy, tight smiles made them all appreciate each other. Kimberly Hart and Tommy Oliver arrived first. Kim sat in the third ailse, Tommy sat in the second ailse diagnol from Jason. Billy Cranson sat behind Tommy. Zack strolled in and sat behind Kimberly. Finally, Trini Kawn, slipping inside the door right before the second bell rang, came and sat in front of Jason.

"Ugggghhh...Jason, you little bastard." Goldar, the dog like warrior from a far off planet growled lowly as he observed the five teenagers through the magically enhanced telescope of his mistress. At 6 foot 11, the golden, armor clad dog demon was terrifying.

Earlier Goldar had noticed how clear the Northern Hemisphere of the Earth looked and thought he'd take a gander at the Power Punks shitty little home town when the Moon orbited around today. He'd seen Jason making the girl fall and thought it was hilarious. He'd also seen Tommy and Kimberly sneaking out of the girls locker room, Zack and Billy rushing to Calculus and Trini arriving to school late. With his mistress, Rita Repulsa, recovering from the extreme energy depleation she suffered from the loss of the Green Power Coin, Goldar was left in charge of Moon Base Operations. He was ordered not to make any attacks on Earth until the mistress recovered. He was to keep the neccessities of the base running and that was all. Goldar was bored. His hands ached to fight something, anything. He wished he could teleport the Red Ranger and beat him to a bloody pulp. The image of Jason's face twisted and bruised surfaced in the Dog Warriors mind. His upper lip pulled back in a grin revealling sharp, long white teeth.

"What are you learing at?"

Goldar hardly was surprised to see Scorpina behind him. She was in semi-human form. Her beautiful black hair hung straight down her back. Her golden armor hugged her skin nicely.

"Power Bastards." Goldar replied, his voice low. Scorpina had seen the Red Ranger defeat him on a few occasions. The embarassment still stung slightly. Scorpina waltzed out onto the balcony and seized the scope from Goldar's hands. She peered through the lens.

"Humph...there doesn't seem to be too much going on down there." she said as she adjusted the scope until the image of Jason and the pther four rangers became clear. Scorpina swung the scope towards the classroom door just in time to see a young woman step through the classroom door nervously.

Why did that girl look so familiar?

"Goldar-look" Scorpina thrust the scope back into Goldar's hands and pushed his head down to look through. "That girl standing in the doorway...who is she?"

Goldar, his large frame haunched over uncomfortably, looked through the lens as best he could. He saw the pitifully human girl standing in the doorway. It had been the same girl that Jason had tripped earlier in the day.

The girls face made a memory surface briefly.

_ His mind wondered back to the glorious times of their early conquering. Together he and huge squads of Putty Patrolers would lay waste to an entire planets defensive systems in a matter of moments. The thrill of battle as he blast bolts of raw energy into a worthy opponant. The rush as his sword sliced off anything it came into contact with. Women, children, it did not matter, for he felled them all if they resisted. Sometimes even if they did not. And when a planet made its land stand..._

_Oh...the sweet satisfaction of victory. The power of wiping whole spiecies out in one smooth attack._

_ But always, there was that meddeling Zordon. _

"Well?" Scorpina punched him in the shoulder, bringing him back to reality. He resisted the urge to yap at her, though his jawls did have a taste for flesh. He looked through the scope one last time. A plan formed in his mind.

"I don't know." He growled again. Goldar pushed the scope away. " I need to DO something Scorpina, this is driving me mad. We're just sitting around here with a world NOT conquered down there." He paced back and forth. Scorpino sighed and crossed her arms. "We're not even focusing on any other worlds. You know there are EIGHT other planets in this solar system right? Most of those planets have moons and, get this-" Goldar paused to shake his head, " there's an asteroid belt." he resumed his pacing. "An asteroid belt! Imagine the amount of magical items that have been stored there! All the metals you need to create new types of relics and armor."

"Can it, Goldar!" Scorpina tsked and rolled her eyes. She was tired of his mouth. Come to think of it, she was tired of the Palace. "If you're that bored why don't you go to the surface. Rita said you couldn't attack Earth, she didn't say anything about not going down there and doing a little snooping around." She uncrossed her arms and walked away from Goldar heading into the Palace. "As for me; this place blows, I'm going home." Right before she stepped inside the Palace, Scorpina snapped her fingers and disappeared in a flash of light. "Call me when something fun happens."

Goldar turned his attentions once again to the blue, jewel like planet before him and laughed. She was right! He would bide his time however and watch and wait.

Soon. Soon.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer**: No copyright infringement intended. Power Rangers is owned by Saban. The OC's belong to me.

**Author's Note**: Hey there, this is a revision of the chapter I posted earlier. Again, thank you for reading. Comments are appreciated. Enjoy and review!

_Chapter Three_

Her name was Erica Quick. The new girl. She could feel the stares of all the students in the lunch line. Erica hated this part of the day. She slid her tray along the silver rails attached to the lunch cart and tried to look nonchalant. So far she'd made it through the day well despite the fiasco in the hallway. It didn't help that she had managed to attract two of the school bullys/comic reliefs attentions. Apparently their names were Bulk and Skull and as odd as their names sounded they were quite appropriate. Erica had tentatively made a friend even. A girl named Angela who was nice and shared her Biology book with her. Erica selected a turkey sandwich, yogurt and milk and paid the bored looking lunchlady the amount that showed on the register. She took a deep breath and stepped into the lunchroom.

It was a fairly nice, long room with square and round tables set at neat intervals here and there. Lunch time at Angel Grove High was normal. Some students sat alone, some together in groups of five or more. The window lined wall on the right side of Erica looked out into the hallway adorned with lockers and stairwells that led to the second floor. To the left side bright sunlight filtered through panes of glass. Erica located the exit to the quad and decided to have lunch in the sun. Fresh air always rejuvenated her.

She stepped out into the sun and headed for an empty table. She found the perfect spot and sat. The bread on the sandwich was a bit dry, she noted as she chewed thoughtfully. To her surprise another tray was placed beside hers and down sat Angela, the girl she'd met in Biology.

" 'Sup girl," Angela said as she sat down on the bench next to Erica.

"Oh, hey!" Erica smiled as Angela sat. "How's it going?"

"Aight. I wanted to sit outside and I saw you sittin' over here all lonely." She uncovered her salad and dug in. "So I said to myself, I'm gonna go sit by her and see what's up."

Erica smiled at her friendliness. She liked Angela, she seemed to have a jovial attitude.

"Well, well-" A voice interrupted their conversation. Angela's shoulders rose and fell. "If it isn't the newbie."

"Yeah, the newbie!" Another voice chimed followed by what had to have been the most annoying laugh she'd ever heard in her life.

"Bulk and Skull." Angela leaned in and whispered.

"I know, we've met." Erica nodded in affirmation.

Bulk, a tall, husky, ponytailed boy man strode upon the girls. Skull, his scrawnier, punk-rocked sidekick was right beside him, chewing a piece of gum with his mouth open.

"Hey Angela, what are you doing sitting with this loser?" Skull asked. He popped his gum.

"Yeah, what are you doing sitting over here. You and Zackie-poo fighting?" Bulk chimed in.

"What was that about Zackie-poo?" A new voice intervene.

Erica tuned to see who else could possibly be joining them now. It was Zack Taylor. She recognized him because he was friends with that one kid.

Jason.

"Hey, these boys giving you problems, Angela?" Zack asked as he sat he tray down on the picnic table behind the girls'. He walked towards Bulk and Skull.

Deciding that this was simply too much for her, Erica stood abruptly, grabbed her tray and walked away to find another table. She felt uncomfortable. There were too many people she didn't know and she felt like a scene was going to be caused.

She found another table, not quite as perfect as the first but sat anyway and finished her lunch. Somehow, she made it through the day without further incident. She felt respondent and distant, not because she didn't know anyone, but because she really felt like she hadn't dealt with anyone else. She knew that was crazy though. She'd been living in the Angel Grove Children's Home for eight months now. She rode her bike along the same path to the large, victorian-esque mansion daily. Erica could name any number of the people that resided there. There was Summer, an 8 year old and her brother Justin. They were the twins that had been abandoned at 4. Then there was Hendrick, 12 and Chole, 14 and herself. And Mrs. Vera, the old lady in charge. So, it's not like she hadn't been around people.

_Still feels like it has_, she thought to herself gloomily as the last bell rang. The day had ended finally.

xxxxXXXXxxxx

The emptiness of space surrounded her. Scorpina had thought that Goldar had been onto something when he mentioned hidden relics. She wondered why she had never thought to look in the asteroid field herself. She leaned back in the pilot seat and tapped on what appeared to be a large, pinkish crystal ball that seemed to pulse with an unseen light. Upon her touch, the ball turned white (what she called 'Pilot Mode') and moved the shuttlecraft closer into the asteroid field.

The planet Mars lay a few billion miles off to her right. She could see the bulk of the planet as she piloted haphazardly through the broken heaps of space rock. Beyond that she could make out the faint glimmer of this solar system's Star.

_I'm here_, she thought to herself _now the question is what am I looking for_?

Scorpina crossed her legs while she leaned back and pondered. A few thoughts crossed her mind. Finally she settled on setting the crystal ball out of sync with this dimension by a minute. Powerful beings like Zordon and Rita were able to travel between the veil of dimensions. After all, you didn't get to be as old as someone like Rita without having learned a few tricks along the way.

Tapping the orb again, Scorpina concentrated on locating the SYNC of this dimension. Every race of sentient species was granted with the knowledge of dimensional leaping. They would eventually discover the means themselves after a few billion years of evolution. _That's when things got messy_, Scorpina thought inwardly. Finding the SYNC, she set her psyche beacon to the pattern, this would enable her to remain in this dimension while mentally projecting an object into another. She waited a full sixty seconds and mentally skipped the ship forward.

The same asteroid field loomed before her this time. She was semi tangent, travelling with no body, but she was allowed free will to move about. As long as she was undisturbed, she could dwell in a dimension for centuries. You learned and discovered all sorts of things trans-dimensionally.

Like hidden relics of immense, absorbable Power you could add to your psyche. With that sort of Power anything you uttered would be granted. Words that moved entire masses to construct what ever you wished. Scorpina was low on the totem pole of Evil now, she knew this. She was working to change that anyway how and finding a way to take out those Power Skunks would certainly move her up a notch.

Scorpina piloted her transparent shuttlecraft about the asteroid field. The ships frequencies were set to scan for anything that gave off a "magical" wave.

She cleared a wayward asteroid when suddenly she was jostled hostily. Scorpina's body was being rocked wildly and thus pulled her back into the home dimension.

Back into her body, Scorpina was tossed against the small cabin first left, then right. She grabbed the pilot seat for balance and once again keyed the orb bringing the shuttlecraft to maximum defense mode.

Outside, a significantly larger ship had barrelled through the field of asteroids a few hundred meters away. Asteroids were flying rapidly in Scorpina's direction. Already her ship had sustained a few dents from the force of impact.

As for the ship before her, it was heavily damaged, an asteroid was imbedded in the ship's long hull, a few meters above sat the cockpit which appeared to be smoking. The ship had a sickly tilt and rocked hard when another asteroid crashed into its smooth, dark frame.

She hopped in the pilot seat and brought the orb forward with her left hand. Pressing a button on the arm of the seat, a dias rose from the metallic floor. She placed the orb in the slot embedded in the dias and the entire ship glowed white and sped off towards the forty five foot long craft. Scorpina had never yet encountered the visitors of this system.

She wove in and out of the rocks that were flying in all directions and somehow was able to close the distance between the ships unscathed. Almost immediately a proximity alarm blared indicating an impending hit.

Red-silver rays of raw Power shot out at Scorpina's craft. The blast knocked out her ships defenses. Defiant, she powered up her ships Power Blaster (the Rangers weren't the only ones with Power Weapons) and fired, full force on the damaged ship. She pulled the craft upward, spiralled to the left and down onto the underside of the enemy's ship. Her Blaster fired once more on the bottom of the hull of the vessel. The blast made it through the shield and onward through the sleek black metal.

She leaned back, exhausted. She hoped she'd managed to disable their defenses, or weapons at least. Scorpina was running out of energy.

Scorpina was low on the totem pole after all. This little jaunt had made her use half a centuries worth of psyche force. _Oh well_, she thought, _it's only half a century more that I am indebted to Master Vile_. Still, she was not pleased with that thought much more than possibly dying.

The alien ship suddenly fired an array of Power, not at Scorpina's ship, but at the monolith asteroids to the left and right of her. The field before her burst into all direction with thousands of mountain sized hunks of planet-making leftovers careening at her. Scorpina had no time to react and was hit directly, the impact pushed her several hundred miles away from the enemy as well as made her ships gravity malfunction. Scorpina floated upwards and so did her orb. All systems failed. An emergency suspended animation spell kicked in. Quickly, she reached for her wrist and sent out a distress signal to Goldar back on the Moon. Scorpina turned her attention to the enemy just in time to see what looked like an escape pod, about the size of her own ship, jettison from the right side of the damaged vessel. There was a brief flash of light and the pod was gone. Moments later a shockwave of white Power erupted from the ship. No side was safe, the wave stretched for miles. It easily reached Scorpina, rendering her unconscious and knocking her ship millions of miles away.

xxxxXXXXxxxx

"Alright, punch, kick! Higher!" Zack held the punching bag as Jason punched and kicked into it with all of his might. "Jason, chill out for a second man, I need to go talk to Max." Zack said. "Yo MAX!" he called across the Youth Center to another old friend, Maximiliano Ruiz. Max turned his head as Zack called his name. He stopped and waited for Zack to catch up with him.

Max checked his watch. He couldn't be late getting home otherwise he'd miss the chance to catch a ride to the library and he really needed to get some research in for a term paper.

"Hey man," Zack said. "So glad I ran into you." They slapped hands. Zack and Max had been friends since 5th grade. That's when Max moved to Angel Grove. "Aye yo, check this out, I'm teaching this class, Hip-Hop Kido and I need some fresh tracks. You usually have the most dope beats so it's only natural I come to you." Zack bowed slightly to Max. "Oh great Beat-Guru, lemme borrow a mix tape from you?"

Max smiled and shook his head at his friends goof factor. "Yeah, I'm sure I can find something unique for you. I'll get it to you tomorrow in English."

"Thanks man, you're morphinominal!" Zack grinned.

"Morpha-what?"

"Uh, awesome-" Zack coughed slightly. " I meant awesome."

Max nodded slowly. He looked at his watch again.

"Crap, I gotta run Zack. See ya later."

Max waved a goodbye to Zack and ran out of the Youth Center. He rushed to his bike and hurriedly pedaled the 8 blocks that separated him from home. As he turned onto his street his saw his Mom's maroon sedan backing out of the driveway as she left for work. His mom worked third shift in a factory the town over which had a much more extensive library.

"Damnit." He muttered to himself as he hopped off his bike. Frustrated, he left the bike sprawled in front of the stoop of their small, one level home and pushed the front door open. He walked into the kitchen and pulled the note his mother always left for him off of the fridge. It read:

_**Mijo, Dinner is on the bottom shelf. Pop it in the oven for 10 minutes at 400. Hope you had a good day. Love you, Mama **_

Max didn't even bother checking to see what she had made. His mind was wholly focused on getting the research done for this paper. He absolutely did NOT want to fail History this semester. He popped into his room quickly, gathering the 3 library books he'd borrowed a couple of days ago and back outside he went, on his bicycle headed towards Angel Grove Public Library where he spent four hours turning pages and cramping his hand from writing.

He raised his head and looked outside. The windows were painted orange from the sun setting in the west. Another day was done here in Angel Grove. No attacks either, Max noted to himself. He wondered if the Power Rangers had managed to finally thwart the menace known as Rita Repulsa.

He checked his watch. Half past eight. Max checked sifted through a few pages of handwritten paper and decided that he'd done enough research for the night.


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer**: No copyright infringement intended. Power Rangers is owned by Saban. The OC's belong to me.

**Author's Note**: _Hey guys, here's another installment. Sorry it took so long to get another chapter up. Been busy. Action is coming up, I promise! Thanks for reading. Enjoy!_

**Chapter Four**:

Tommy and Jason bowed to each other then eased into their fighting stances. Jason's legs were spread slightly. Instantly Tommy was on the offense. He advanced on Jason and shot a foot out deftly. His foot connected with Jason right forearm in defense. Jason moved to grab Tommy's ankle but Tommy was too quick for him, Tommy lowered his leg and kicked Jason in the ribs. Recovering into a crouch, Jason swept his right leg out, meaning to knock Tommy to his back, but naturally, Tommy anticipated this and deftly jumped over Jason's extended foot. As Tommy's right leg came back to the mat upon which they were fighting, his left foot lashed out and caught Jason's chin. Jason was sent backwards but advanced into backflip and recovered once again on his feet. Jason rushed Tommy. Tense hand to hand combat ensued. Finally the two broke apart, breathing heavily and bowed again.

"Yo, good match man." Jason walked over to one of the weight benches and grabbed a towel. He wiped the sweat from his brow and toweled his brown hair dry. "Yeah, it was alright. You seem distracted though, what's up?" Tommy asked. He took a swig from his water bottle and also grabbed a towel to wipe off the perspiration.

For a moment, Jason contemplated telling Tommy about his forgetfulness at last nights events, but decided against it. Already he had gotten a weird look from Zack this morning trying to discuss it. He didn't want anyone further questioning his ability to lead the team.

"No, everything's cool. Just with the C.S.R.T.'s coming up there's a little bit of extra pressure this semester."

"Seriously." Tommy agreed. "I had no idea Angel Grove High was in danger of failing state testing. Seems like a pretty decent school to me."

Jason nodded his head.

"It is a pretty decent school, " he jerked his head towards the Juice Bar. "-just has a few bad seeds." Bulk and Skull were sitting at the bar wondering aloud why it was so hard to get some good service. " Guys like those two for example. They're not dumb, they just don't care enough to try. They've scored low for three years in a row. Makes it seem like they're not learning. That and it's a small school. There are under five hundred students here."

"You guys are talking that serious stuff again. I can tell by the intense look of boredom on Tommy's face." Zack walked up and wrangled Jason around the neck. "C'mon, lighten up Jas, we're Power Rangers, what you worried about a state test for?" Zack released Jason and thumped Tommy on the back. "Tommy, you an' me, let's go." Zack headed for the sparring mats and began to stretch. Jason noticed Angela had just walked in followed by..what was her name?

Erica. Erica Quick.

"Alright, just a sec." Tommy called to Zack, never one to turn down a quick match. "Catch you later?"

"Yeah, I'm gonna take a quick shower. I'll probably head home unless..." Jason tapped his communicator.

"Right. Later then."

Jason nodded a goodbye to Tommy. He watched the two spar for a few minutes and decided they were pretty evenly matched when Zack wasn't trying to incorporate dance moves. He was very agile and quick. He delivered powerful, precise kicks and punches.

He remembered how he and Zack and another kid, Max Ruiz would spar when they were younger. He and Zack used to practice since they had started together at the local Dojo and Max later on when his family moved to Angel Grove. Jason smiled at the memory. They were all fine then, just playing around in their front yards. Jason and Max were cool at first, but as they got older, Jason grew to not like Max. He didn't hate him, he just didn't go out of his way to speak with him. Jason and Max eventually fell off completely their freshman year while Max and Zack remained friends. They had a little bit more in common anyway.

His eyes reverted back to Erica who at the moment, was distracted by Angela's conversation. The two were casually leaned against the bar, thoroughly teenagers as Angela's eyes followed the fluid motions of Zack as he fought and Erica trying to pretend to be interested. She tucked a strand of her long, tightly coiled hair behind her ear. Her lips tilted into a shy, upwards grin and parted into a smile as she laughed at something Angela said.

Erica's eyes swung to his. For a moment, he was caught in her gaze. Her eye color was incredible, like all the majesty of a sunset. With some difficulty he managed to break free. If he stared too long they felt weird. Out of place. Jason gathered his towel and walked out of the Juice Bar.

Jason made his way down the hall to the Youth Center showers. He cleaned up, dried off and dressed all the while pondering the days events. He couldn't believe yet another day had passed without interruption. Maybe Rita really has given up, he thought to himself as he packed up his duffel bag. He shut his locker and spun the lock. What would that mean for him and the others? If there was no more Rita there would be no need for the Power Rangers. Would they just go back to being regular teenagers? Would they get together when they were old and dimly remember the times they battled powerful monsters? Would the world even remember them then? He laughed to himself. Nah, Rita Repulsa will never give up. Heck, she's been fighting Zordon for centuries, she's not stopping now.

Jason shrugged his backpack and duffel bag onto his shoulder. The Youth Center had a definite empty feel too it. Half of the florescent lights were out at the end of the hall. Only the one by the entrance and exit was lit. Outside the tinted doors, Jason could see that the sky had darkened. He walked a little more quickly back into the Juice Bar. If he stayed late at the Center, Jason usually walked with Ernie to the Bank as he made his deposits. All the lights were out in the Juice Bar. Ernie must have left already he decided.

He walked out of the Youth Center and towards the direction of home. The day had been full and he was glad it was over. He was even looking forward to getting in bed and falling into a deep, restorative sleep. His legs automatically took him to his street and he was almost to his front gate when he saw Erica's tall frame walking on the opposite side of the street.

"Hey!" he called to her. "Erica, right?" Jason put down his duffel bag and backpack. Erica's pace seemed to quicken. "Hey, wait up!" Jason sprinted after her. He caught up with her easily and slowed his pace to match her brisk stride.

"Hello." Erica said, not looking at him.

"I wanted to apologize for what happened earlier today-"

"Fine, apology accepted now please stop following me." she cut him off. Her stride increased. Her legs were long, Jason noted.

Perturbed suddenly, Jason gently reached out and grabbed her by the crook of her arm. It was enough to jerk her to a stop. She turned to him, angry.

"Don't touch me-"

"Why are you avoiding me?" Jason ignored her protest. She was deliberately being rude and he wanted to know why. "I've tried to apologize to you twice now about making you fall and both times you've brushed me off."

" Just because you apologize I'm supposed to automatically allow you to speak to me?" Erica plucked her limb free of Jason's grasp and crossed her arms across her chest. "It doesn't work that way, Jason. We're not friends."

"Who says we can't be?" Jason interjected. He too crossed his arms. "I mean you and Angela seem to be getting along well. I noticed you talking to my friend Kimberly in English today."

"So?" Erica asked. "What's your point? I chose to speak to them. I didn't choose to speak to you."

Jason grimaced.

"Wow. I really made a bad impression, I see." He lowered his head slightly. "Well, I guess I'm sorry for speaking first." Jason raised his his head so he could meet her eyes but found they were diverted to something behind him. An odd light lit up her creamy tan face. Jason turned his attention in the direction of her gaze and saw, falling from the sky at an incredible rate what appeared to be an oblong meteor. Its tail of burned rock and debris was brilliant against the deep purple of the newly dark sky.

It streaked out behind its oblong shape as the meteor made its descent towards the rocky earth. Jason couldn't believe how close it was. It looked like it would land right in Angel Grove!

"What is that?" Erica asked, panic seeping into her voice. "It's so close!" In her panic she had inadvertently reached for Jason's arm and was gripping it tightly.

Jason stood tall trying to gage where the meteor would land. He scanned the western horizon and projected it would land near the beach. The alien object sped closer and closer until-

A dull thud resounded across the valley. As it spread, its soundwave rolled through their bodies; the vibration of the impact reverberated in their bones. Erica's knees wobbled from the shock but she regained her balance quickly. Jason eased his arm out of Erica's grasp.

"You should get out of here." he suggested to her over his shoulder, his eyes not diverting from the landing site. A faint glow could be seen pulsing. It was white tinged with gold and fading quickly. "I've got to get home too."

"Oh..ok, yeah." Erica agreed. She certainly was not going to go home though. No way was she going to miss a chance to check out a hunk of space rock. Mrs. Vera was asleep anyway. "Apology accepted, by the way."

Jason smiled slightly and started to speak but six high pitched beeps sounded out in a sort of singsong way. Erica paused long enough to catch a glimpse of Jason playing with his wristwatch. She hurried towards the direction of the children home which was around the corner and over on the next street. When she reached the corner she paused again and turned just in time to see Jason apparently engulfed in a red beam of crackling energy and carried up and away. It happened so quickly if she'd have blinked she wouldn't have seen it. Erica's jaw dropped.

"What the-" she sprinted over to the spot Jason had occupied moments before. There was nothing on the ground, nothing dropped, nothing out of place. Erica stomped her foot in the spot Jason had stood. It was solid. "The people in this town just keep getting weirder..." Erica ran off at full speed towards the crash site.

xxxxXXXXxxxx

Max's heart pounded as he pedaled furiously towards the crash he'd seen only moments ago. He was an experienced biker. Angel Grove had all sorts of terrain. Rocks, cliffs, ocean, beach. There were also surprisingly wooded area too. Max knew the trails pretty well. He coasted his bike down a steep hill and heard the first crash of waves. He coasted down one more ridge before he had to ditch his bike having to continue on foot the rest of the way. The crash site was easy to find, for now that was. When the object had first crashed it gave off an intense white light but that light was now fading rapidly. Max felt a sense of urgency in the air and increased his pace. Finally he came upon a ridge that overlooked the ocean and surrounding beach and saw the crash. Well, at least saw the crater the crash had created. The rectangular object had smashed into the soft sandy crust of the Earth. Max could see the tip of the craft as it jutted forth. White, acrid smoke curled upwards in tendrils towards the star scattered sky.

What if it were one of the Rangers? Max thought to himself. No one knew who the Power Rangers were so it was quite possible that he could be staring at a vehicle that one of the Rangers used. If that were the case, they had to have been injured. Max wasted no further time and climbed down the small cliff onto the beach below. His hands were a little raw by the time he reached the bottom, but he hardly noticed as he took in the full effect of what he was viewing.

A small crater about twelve feet deep stretched before him. Max pushed a strand of his long brown hair behind his ear as he squatted down to investigate. The soft sand gave way beneath him and down he tumbled. Max regained his composure quickly and managed to skid gracefully down the rest of the way. He shakily approached the craft which was a matte black, almost liquid like. He had never seen anything like it. It was about fourteen feet long and though it was rectangular in shape, it was rounded on one end and tapered at the other. The rounded end was what was smoking. Max had to cover his nose with the sleeve of his plaid button down shirt to keep the acrid smell out.

There was an opening hinged at the crumpled end and with a hiss, the craft opened. With some difficulty it swung up letting out the mist that had been contained within the pod. A body lay within, one with a humanoid form. The smoke cleared finally and Max was able to see the gleam of the full moon reflected off of the aliens helmeted faced. The helmet itself appeared to be made out of the same material as the ship and was all black. The visor was black with a gold outline. There was the silver plated mouthpiece, Max noted, but this was unlike any Ranger he had ever seen.

In fact he was no longer sure he was looking at a Ranger.

Max took another shaky step forward, his sneakered foot sloshing in a puddle. It was dangerous to be in this hole surrounded by soft sand that at any moment could fill with water. They were very close to the tide line. Max figured the alien had to have been hurt otherwise it would have rose from the craft by now.

"Hey-you ok?" he called to the figure in the craft. There was the sound of labored breathing. Max could see white gloved hands in the moonlight gripping the slick black sides of the craft. The figure struggled, but was able to sit up. The figure was clothed in a black bodysuit not unlike something the Power Rangers would wear. There was a magnificent golden chest plate that protected the upper half of the aliens torso and extended slightly to protect the abdomen. A thick ebon line crossed the chestpiece and seemed to glow with its own dark power. The chestpiece appeard to be made out of an armor like alloy for the moons light reflected off of the piece and allowed Max to observe that the alloy also protected the aliens shoulders and upper arms. The same black line of power coursed through the armor.

"H-hey," Max called again. The alien reached up and grasped the dense ebony helmet in both gloved hands and pulled up. "Are you hurt?"

The alien pulled the helmet off to reveal a pale skinned male humanoid being. The dark hair on its head was disheveled. A scar cut down the right side of the aliens lean face which was not unlike that of a humans. Two eyes, one nose and one mouth as far as Max could tell.

"Wverynect dul shin? Hallack deh triont?" It spoke.

Max jumped. He wasn't prepared for this. For the first moment since he saw the craft he was tempted to run, but he stood his ground and spoke back. He tried a different dialect.

"No voy a hacerte daño, yo soy Maximiliano." Max gestured to himself as he spoke in perfect Spanish. Being bilingual came in handy frequently. "Lo entiendes?"

The alien looked at him blankly for a moment and then gave a sobering sigh. Slowly, the aliens left arm extended and the white gloved fingers gestured to Max.

_**Come here**_.

The alien wanted Max to come forward. He took a step towards the pod but hesitated. He vaguely remembered reading this scenario. A comic book maybe? Suddenly Max was faced with a huge decision. He recognized that at this very moment his life was about to change. Was he ready?

Max nodded and continued towards the alien.

_**Good, you are not afraid**_. The voice that filled Max's mind was heavy with age.

_How are you doing this_? Max asked himself mentally, for the voice spoke directly to his mind. Max has thought to himself, even had whole conversations to himself in his mind, but it was always himself that answered. Max's voice.

_**There is no time for explanation. My life is**_- a mental pause-

A grimace gripped the aliens face. Max closed the remaining gap between himself and the pod and stopped in horror as he saw why the alien was in pain. A gap the size of a bowling ball had been seared clean through its lower abdominal cavity. The wound appeared to have been cauterized. It had to have been inflicted by an intense heat source, Max thought. His respect for the alien grew tenfold.

_How can I help you?_

_**You can not save me, human manchild. You are needed for something far greater than I.**_

_Needed?_

The aliens (Max decided it was male) right arm reached for something at his waist. Cinched around the aliens lean waist was a golden belt. The buckle held an elaborate trident-like design and was what the alien was reaching for.

_Are you some sort of Power Ranger?_

_**No, but I know of them. That means Zordon of Eltar is here. You must seek him out. It was in his presence that the Golden Power was last seen.**_

_What is the Golden Power?_

_**My mission**_-

The alien coughed and a silver liquid burst forth from his mouth. Max realized the liquid was the aliens blood and understood he was dying.

_**You must take on my mission. You must find the Queen of Triforia.**_

With a jerk, the belt buckle was free and the alien pulled the golden belt from its nearly severed waist. With what remaining strength he had left, the alien pulled Max's slightly outstretched hand to him and slapped the belt, buckle and all into it. The belt was surprisingly heavy, Max's hand dropped down and if not for him being so near the craft it would have made him lose his balance and fall. Such enormous weight was contained in the tiny belt. Max turned his widened eyes back to the dying alien.

_What is this?_

_**My power...I g-give it t-to...y-you-**_

_What am I doing with it? How do I use it?_

_**Find...the Queen. She has the Golden Power. You MUST find her.**_

The aliens gloved hand gripped Max's belt filled hand. The aliens dark eyes were ringed with gold and bore into Max's own brown orbs. He was emphasising the importance of the mission.

_**To you, Maximiliano Ruiz, I bequeath the TriForce Amulet. You shall now be-**_

Another cough and more blood appeared. Max could tell it was everything the alien could do to keep from dying. He was forcing himself to stay alive to complete this one last task.

_**You shall now be commander of its Power bestowed by Trey, Lord of Triforia and whose family you are now sworn to protect.**_

_Wait, what? Trifori-what?_

Max's questions went unanswered as the alien's body was racked with coughs. The silver blood spurt forth in stringy clumps from his mouth and oozed onto the belt. Max tried to jerk his hand out of the aliens grasp but was unable to do so. The aliens body became slack and motionless. He moved no more.

The golden belt burst into flames. The flames engulfed Max's arm in mere seconds. Moments later his whole body was a blaze.

Maximiliano was being burned alive.


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer**: No copyright infringement intended. Power Rangers is owned by Saban. The OC's belong to me.

**Chapter Five**

Failure. Complete failure. How could five puny little punks defeat her time and time again? Her with all the powers she'd amassed in the centuries, no, millennia, of fighting the evil fight. The countless people and planets that had fallen to her. She was a regent of Lord Zedd! Even her father had to acknowledge that that was no easy feat for Lord Zedd was nearly as powerful as Master Vile. And she, Rita Repulsa, with **NO** help from her father whatsoever, was able to make Regent. In charge of an entire sector of Lord Zedd's empire. True Zedd had not made an appearance to this sector of the Galaxy in millennia and it was insignificant compared to M-51 but it was hers to rule in Zedd's absence. Here she was Empress Rita.

Empress Rita opened her eyes as it all slammed back to her. Her loss of the Green Ranger. The betrayal of her coveted Green Power Coin being used for good. And Tommy-

Her eyes misted suddenly as she realized that Tommy Oliver was truly gone. Her surrogate son. He had made her so proud as the Green Ranger. Her first true Knight of Evil.

Well, that was fine. That was JUST fine with her because now she had even more of an excuse to kill the Power Rangers. Starting today. No more moping, no more sleeping.

Rita threw off her heavy blankets and stood from the bed. Her staff lay propped against a crafted stand. She reached for it, her long pointed fingers coming into contact with the smooth metal of the Staff. The Red Jewel embedded in the middle of the ornate crescent design at the end of the staff glowed softly. Dark jets of smoke shot out from the jewel and circled around Rita. Starting at her feet the tendrils of smoke rose and as they worked their way up Rita became clothed in her trademark brown dress, pointed chestplate and magic headdress.

As always the tendrils of smoke became her iron gray hair that was plaited straight out from the scalp of her head.

She felt better already.

"Ahh-" she said. "Much better. I feel so refreshed." Rita decided to head out of the Master Suite. She needed to ponder. Might as well think of a way to defeat the Rangers now that she was energized.

The Palace felt oddly empty. Where are those useless imbeciles? She thought to herself walking towards the Grand Hall. Rita's heels clicked rhythmically on the marbled floor. Her pace undeterred, she descended the steps that would lead her to the Balcony. It was her War Room of sorts having made many a (failed) plan that had nearly (not even close, really) overthrew those little twerps.

Rita reached the second landing of the Great Stairway and paused. She could see the blue gleam of the Planet Earth shining luminously from the entrance of the Balcony. It beckoned to Rita with its beauty; so wondrous and vast and live giving. All those little pure souls down there killing each other when they could be killing for her. Conquering for her.

Rita wanted them. The whole Planet, the **WHOLE LOT OF THEM**. That was **HER** planet down there! Not his! Not...

Zordon's.

The thought of his name was enough to sour her mood further. He was the one who was the cause of all her misgivings. All because he stuck his nose in things that didn't concern him...again. Rita still couldn't believe that he had managed to establish communication outside of the Trans-Dimensional Warp as it is. And then to have a Command Center that had been set up for centuries while had spent damn near an eternity sitting in a sealed dumpster with only Finster, Squat, Baboo and Goldar for company.

Yes, Zordon had to be demolished. He had to suffer. In order to make Zordon suffer she had to make the Power Brats suffer.

Speaking of the Power Brats, she remembered her telescope and gathering her full skirts waltzed onto the balcony. There was the Earth, beautiful as usual. Rita wanted to shrink it and wear it like a necklace. Every second that she could not go down to Earth and do whatever she wanted infuriated her. Her hand reached the cold stone of the Balcony and gripped the bannister. Her other hand grasped the delicate, golden end of the telescope. Closing one eye, Rita bent slightly and peared.

The magically enhanced lens of the telescope pierced the atmosphere of the Earth, zoomed through its cloud formations, homed in on the United States, upper northwest of the state of California and finally into the city of her rivals. Into the dwellings of those she sought so desperately to destroy.

It was shaping up to be another beautiful night in Angel Grove. Tommy Oliver, on his way home from the Youth Center had stopped by his girlfriend, Kimberly's home. Trini Kwan, who happened to be over at Kim's working on a project was preparing to leave. The three teens were laughing freely, sharing a joke.

Laugh now, Green Ranger, Rita thought to herself, a smirk on her gently lined face. Inside her mind, a plan had formed.

A plan to take back her coveted Power Coin. The enormity of the loss of that amount of Power infuriated her. She was not about to let centuries of Psyche Force go just like that. No way, no how.

Yes, he laughed now, but soon his laughter would die as she destroyed him along with the other little dunces that twittered around him.

Rita began searching for the other Rangers through the magicked lens and was shocked to see what appeared to be a figure burning on the beach. Rita quickly pulled her lens back to the image and twisting a few dials on the side of the telescope brought the image into crystal clear focus.

There appeared to have been some sort of crash that had caused a sizable crater and whatever was in that crater appeared to have been burning. Rita said a few words of power and the lens augmented itself so it could see through the sand and into the crater.

"An escape pod!" Rita gasped and then saw what was burning. A figure. A human figure.

And right now, that human figure was giving off enough Power to fill the gauge left by the loss of the Power Coin and then some.

"**GOLLLLDAAAAAAR!" **Rita screeched. The entire Moon Palace shook. In his lab Finster scurried to catch clay creations before they were knocked down and ruined. Squat and Baboo, upon hearing Rita's voice, jerked their heads up at the precise same moment resulting in a dull knocking sound and the two creatures unconscious on the floor.

Rita waited a few moments and when the golden warrior did not pop onto the balcony, she knew he was already checking out the situation below on the surface.

"**FINSTER**! Make me a new batch of Putties! Something tells me Goldar will need them soon!"

XXXXxxxxXXXX

Jason teleported into the Command Center. His gaze came to rest on the giant glass tube that contained the superimposed image of his mentor, Zordon.

Zordon looked down upon Jason, the strongest of his Rangers and tried to look reassuring.

"Hey Zordon, Alpha-" Jason lifted a hand in greeting to the small, bipedal robot that kept the Command Center running like a well oiled clock. Alpha 5 shuffled over to Jason in the weird, graceful gait that Jason had grown accustomed to and placed a mechanical hand in the air. Jason hi fived it.

"Greetings, Jason." Zordon started, wasting no time. " As you know, an unidentified flying object has hit the Angel Grove beach-"

Suddenly, klaxons blared. The strobe like light in the center of the complicated consols lit up and spun.

"Ay-yi-yi! What is it, Zordon?" Alpha stuttered like it always did when it was "nervous". It reached for the console in front of it and pressed a button.

"Behold the viewing globe."

Jason turned to look behind him and saw the massive crystal ball like orb that served as the eyes outside of the Command Center. He back stepped to the placed he'd teleported in and stood directly in front of the viewing globe.

The image revealed in the globe was that of what appeared to be a ship that had sunk deep into the sandy beach. The image then swung upwards showing a small ten foot cliff overlooking the crash and dense woods behind it. The image pierced through the trees to reveal Goldar, sword drawn walking around the woods cautiously, searching for the crash sight.

"It is Goldar, Jason."

"I'll go stop him." Jason cracked his knuckles. He'd been waiting for Rita to pull something and it looks like this was it.

"I am sending you to his location. You must proceed with caution."

"What do we know about the crash? Was that a ship I saw sticking out of the crater?" asked Jason.

"Systems indicate a high source of unidentifiable energy. I am afraid that Rita has sent Goldar down to find a way to harness this energy and make it her own." Zordon paused. "And you are correct, Jason, it is a ship. Alpha is currently trying to find out the origins of the craft."

"Where are the others?" Jason asked briefly wondering why he alone had been summoned to the Command Center.

"They are on standby. Jason, you must not let Goldar obtain that power."

"I've been training for this, Zordon. I got this." Jason clenched his fist tightly. Ever since their last meeting, in which Goldar had trapped Jason in Rita's Dark Dimension, Jason had been training and pushing himself as hard as he could.

"Very well, Jason. Remember, proceed with caution. I will send the others to you if needed. Alpha will teleport you near Goldar when you are ready."Jason nodded to Alpha, indicating that he was ready to go. Alpha shuffled to one of the intricate consoles, set in the coordinates and with a final look to Jason, pressed the button that would teleport Jason away.

A flash of red lightning and Jason was gone.

"Ay-yi-yi, be careful, Jason!" Alpha called. Its mechanical voice held almost a tinge of worry. It supposed it had gathered a sense of emotion over the years. It pressed more buttons on the console. "Zordon, do you think Jason will be ok without the aid of the other Rangers?"

"Yes, Alpha. Jason will be fine. The Power will protect him."

xxxxXXXXxxxx

Goldar stalked silently through the brush. His sword was drawn and ready. The moon was full in the sky giving him near perfect night vision. The forest was almost dead, no small creatures scampered about tonight, they had been frightened off by the crash which he was currently investigating. With Rita being asleep he had decided to make the call and head down to the surface when he saw the craft streak past from the Moon. Besides, the amount of Power radiating from that craft had increased. Goldar could feel the gentle pulsing tangents of invisible Power beckoning him closer. Goldar quickened his pace as much as he dared but he knew he had to get to that crash site before anyone else showed up.

There! He'd heard the crash of waves. Wasting no further time, Goldar spread his gigantic black wings and launched himself into the sky, when suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, a streak of red was seen. A new scent permeated the area. Goldar let out a low growl. He pulled his body in and tucked into a neat somersault and landed, facing the woods. His back was to the cliff, he could feel the wind buffer against him this high up. He retracted his wings.

He smelled the human before he saw him. Jason, yes. The most powerful of the Rangers. What was it about the Red Rangers that Goldar especially hated? Was it the fact that they all seemed to possess an arrogance that they were automatically far superior than the rest?

"Goldar, imagine finding you here, searching for something just like the dog you are."

"You're all talk as usual, Red Ranger, show yourself!"

"Gladly." Jason stepped away from the tree he had been hiding behind. Goldar was pleased to see that he was unmorphed. He would have fun pulverizing him.

Jason rushed Goldar but the sly creature tumbled easily out of the way.

"Whoa!" Jason exclaimed as he caught himself before he went over the cliff's edge.

Sensing Goldar behind him, sword draw, Jason launched himself into a high kick aimed at the armored beasts chest. Goldar grabbed the youths ankle before it reached its target and sent Jason's entire body in another direction. Recovering with a swift spring back to his feet, Jason readied himself for Goldar's next attack.

"Hee-hee-hee, Red Ranger-" Goldar's red eyes glistened in the moonlight. "I've been itching for a fight and you're just the-"

Goldar didn't get to finish that statement because out of nowhere, a burning figure spiraled upwards from the crater. The figure was humanoid and was entirely engulfed in flames.

Suddenly the fire jumped off of the figure (one could literally see the space between the stranger's body and the fire) and with a loud boom-like explosion, the fire reconvened back to the bearer. The flames grew white hot, then dissipated.

The Stranger Ranger was left behind.

Goldar and Jason paused, both trying to figure out what was floating before them. The Strangers back was facing them. With a menacing glare, Goldar snapped his taloned claws and at once a squad of Putties appeared.

Wonderful, thought Jason. Goldar, Putties and now some new guy.

Jason knew it was time for action. Whoever that guy was, Jason certainly didn't want him to see him change so, reaching behind his back, he pulled the slim pack from its hiding place.

"It's morphin' time!" Jason thrust the Power Morpher in front of him. "Tyrannosaurus!" he shouted.

Instantly, a bolt of raw lightning crackled from sky to earth, exploding the ground before Jason. From that explosion an energy field, crackling with red electricity sprang up, engulfing Jason and transforming him from his head to his feet into the Red Ranger.


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer**: No copyright infringement intended. Power Rangers is owned by Saban. The OC's belong to me.

**Chapter Six**

Erica's heart pounded as she ran through the underbrush, there was definitely action going on up ahead. The wind carried the voices of warriors engaged in battle and as she paused to catch her breath, Erica's eyes saw a red bolt of lightning streak up into the sky. She jumped, frightened at the veracity of the element but continued along deeper into the forest. Soon, she came upon the Red Ranger and some sort of Golden creature combating one another fiercely, but it seemed as if the Red Ranger were trying to make his way towards another Ranger Erica had not seen until her eyes glanced further on past the brawling pair and over the cliff to the sandy beach below. She couldn't get a good look at the Ranger, all she knew was he was male and his helmet was dark and he was surrounded by grey skinned beings that were surrounding and attacking him simultaneously from all directions. The mysterious Ranger held his own quite easily, managing to knock all six of the DuraPutties off of him when they piled in, beating him with their stone hard fist and sharpened scythe hands. The Ranger threw them far away from him, Erica felt his Power from her height above him on the cliff.

She had enough sense to stay away, in fact, she began to retreat as silently as she could. Erica had finally seen enough for her survivability to kick in. She didn't want to get any closer, she had to get away before-

A gray Putty Patroller beamed directly in front of her and caught her in its grasp as she retreated. Erica, however, was no weakling. The girl immediately centered her stance, gathered her strength and jabbed her elbow quickly into the Patrollers' side. She inhaled and jabbed once more. This time, the Putty's grasp around her broke, Erica grabbed its arm and twisted it, throwing the Putty to the ground. Without thinking automatically punched the Putty in its chest with all her physical prowess. The Putty shimmered and broke apart, like it was brittle clay.

Erica looked back over her shoulder just in time to see the Red Ranger go careening through the air. He landed inches from her. Erica wrestled with her instincts for a moment then rushed to where the Ranger had landed.

"Are you ok?" she asked, feeling stupid, of course he wasn't ok, he was on the ground. Several scorch marks marred the white diamond pattern emblazoned on his chest.

The Red Ranger nodded and got to his feet. He swayed slightly. Erica reached out a hand to steady him. Red Ranger brushed her hand away.

"I'm fine, get out of here." He said. His voice wasn't one she recognized.

"Red Ranger, come out!" Goldar yelled. "There you are, hiding behind that human girl! Haha! Who's the coward now?"

Without warning, Goldar's hand flew to his red eyes, when he pulled his hand free, crimson bolts of Power flew from his eyes. The Red Ranger threw himself over Erica, knocking the wind out of her and pushing her to the ground. Red Ranger gripped the young females shoulders and pulled her with him as they twisted over the terrain. The red bolts of energy just missed the pair. Red Ranger pushed himself off of Erica. His hand flew to his hip as a holster appeared and he mechanically pulled his blaster pistol from it.

"I've got rays too, you know." Red Ranger said confidently. "And mine have different settings!" Having said that, the Red Ranger sprang towards Goldar while Erica, having been thoroughly frightened, got the sense to flee once more. There was something familiarly uncomfortable about the strange golden creature the Red Ranger was currently engaged in combat with. Images flashed through her mind. They were foggy and disorienting. Shaking the strange visions away, Erica ran as fast as her feet would carry her. She ran hard, her feet rhythmically pounding against the ground, her pace not slowing until she burst forth from the forest onto the highway. A horn blared at her alarmingly and Erica turned her shocked face up the road to see an eighteen wheeler bearing down upon her. She was frozen, her body refused to obey her mind. All she could see were those lights growing closer and closer, blinding her. The pupils of her golden eyes suddenly widened. Pain flared inside Erica's skull as the light from the oncoming semi flooded her optical receptors. She could feel her body fall back as molten rivulets of golden flame erupted from her sockets and shot out towards the truck. Erica felt her body hit the concrete of the road and calmly wondered if the authorities would be able to identify her after the semi ran her over.

The chirping birds brought her to, gently waking her from her slumber. Erica rolled over onto her back, her secondhand bed frame creaking as she reached for the clock on her nightstand. It read 6:59 a.m. Almost time to get up anyhow, she thought. Still, her body felt a pang of regret for having been woken before her alarm went off.

Erica stretched, puzzled as to how she got into her room at the Orphanage. Obviously last night had to have been a dream. There was no way she met the Red Ranger, or saw Putties, or even almost got ran over by a semi. She laughed with relief as she felt her face and brought her fingers to her eyes, briefly remembering the pain she had felt in them while she had been dreaming.

"Ha, way too many sci-fi movies before bed, Erica." She said to herself and pulled her thick covers off of her.

"Erica, you must be up now, it will be time for you to leave for school soon, child."

"Yes, Mrs. Vera."

Erica rose from the bed, ready to start the day.

Maximilliano Ruiz awoke with a jolt and sat upright in his bed. His eyes scanned his room and saw the metallic belt strewn across the back of his sitting chair.

"Not a dream." He said to himself. He rose from the bed and immediately sank to his knees. His head and body was in agony. Last nights events flooded his consciousness.

"Mijo?" Max's mother called from her room next to him. She had returned home from work and had probably just drifted off the sleep. His abrupt fall to the floor had woken her.

"I'm okay, Mom." He called out, feeling guilty for having disturbed her. "-I just fell out of bed."

"Be careful, son. Have a good day at school." She replied sleepily.

Psh, like he was going back to school. Max tried to pull himself up and was finding it difficult to do so. Why would he feel so incredibly heavy all of a sudden, like he was not acclimated to his body mass. Had he increased in size in his sleep? Max turned his vision to his arms and hands which, to his surprise, were a bit more hale than he was accustomed to. Max looked again to his belt and wondered if its absence had anything to do with his sudden heaviness.

Somehow, he managed to make his way to the belt, his hand lunging for its cool metal surface. Just as he thought, once he came in contact with the belt, he felt lighter, back to himself.

"This'll take some getting used to." Max said as he threw the belt over his shoulder, feeling a bit light the heavyweight champ of the world.


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer**: No copyright infringement intended. Power Rangers is owned by Saban. The OC's belong to me.

**Chapter Seven**

"Yo, did you hear about that Semi that got turned over on the highway last night, man?" Zack said to Billy as they walked from their Calculus class to their English class. "The driver wasn't hurt, but that semi, whoo, man!"

"Yeah, I overheard it on the radio as I was getting ready for school. They said it was something that was so hot that it managed to melt the truck almost instantly." Billy replied as he hitched his blue backpack upon his shoulder. "That's a technology random people don't posses."

"Exactly, " Zack nodded his head as he sidestepped around a fellow student. "Question is, where did that Power come from? It's gotta be you-know-who."

Billy and Zack arrived at the classroom door and walked inside. They were the first two to arrive and they sat down in their usual desks next to each other.

"I don't know," Billy continued as he retrieved his english textbook, a slim volume with a threadbare blue cover and his spiral notebook. "It doesn't quite seem like her style."

"Who else could it be?" Zack asked as he too took out the necessities for the current class.

"I'll tell you who else it could be-" Jason said as he sat down randomly in front of Zack.

"Yo man, where were you this morning?" Zack asked, his face lighting in surprise at Jason's presence.

"I had an interesting night." Jason began. "We've got to wait for the others though." Jason turned back to the front of the class, looking at the door, tapping his thumb against the desk impatiently waiting for his team mates to walk through it.

They arrived, one by one, Trini taking Jason's normal desk since he was occupying hers.

Unfortunately, Ms. Appleby walked in immediately after the last student walked through the door leaving the group of super powered teenagers unavailable to talk about last nights events.

Erica walked in just as the last bell rang and took the desk furthest in the corner away from everyone. She pulled her English book out of her backpack and rummaged around for a pen. Once she was prepared for class, her eyes found Jason and the wheels in her head began to turn.

She thought last nights events were a dream, only she found her shoes and clothing from last night had mud and bits of forest leaves stuck to them and there really had been a semi accident on the highway. They said that pieces of the truck were actually melted to the pavement. Had she done that?

No. No, no, no that was not possible. She was normal, there was no way that she could posses the Power to melt metal. Things like that didn't happen to a girl like her. An ordinary, unextraordinary, everyday girl like her. If she were so powerful, why hadn't she conjured herself up a better life? Surely a person who could shoot beams out of their eyes and teleport themselves into their own beds would have the Power to change the life they lead.

Still though.

Erica turned her attention to Ms. Appleby as she explained that the class was going to focus on their first Required Reading book of the school year.

"First up, " Ms. Appleby explained as she opened up a cardboard box that had been placed on her desk. "Of Mice and Men written by John Steinbeck. Have any of you ever read this novel?"

One student, a teen wearing denim overalls, a blue shirt and glasses raised his hand, along with Erica.

"Oh, how surprising, Ms. Quick, usually, Mr. Cranson is the only one who has read any of the Required Reading books." Ms. Appleby smiled as she counted out five books. Slowly, Ms. Appleby placed the books on the first students desk in a row and instructed them to take one and pass it back. "What did you think of it?"

"Well," Erica answered, dredging up what she recalled about the book. "I really like the part about..." Erica stalled, she couldn't really remember anything about the novel for she had read it years ago. The student in front of her turned and handed the last book to her. Erica's hand reached up and gripped the smooth cover of the novel and at once, all of the books contents were emptied into her head, it was if she had read the words simply by touching the book.

"I really enjoyed the connection that George and Lennie had. The story is very bittersweet and shows how easily situations and people can turn destructive." Erica answered, amazed at her own voice.

"Very insightful, Erica. I look forward to you sharing more on your take about the book as we read it in class." Ms. Appleby answered, delighted. "Ok, class. Let's talk a little backstory about the writer. John Steinbeck-"

Erica's eyes once again sought out Jason's presence, noticing that as her eyes turned to him, his quickly looked away from her.

He's the Red Ranger. A voice said to her. It just popped inside her head and for some odd reason, Erica believed it. The clues were all there. The red crackling energy field she'd seen him disappear into, the red bolt of lightning that she had seen in the woods and lastly, the sudden appearance of the Red Ranger. True, she had not recognized his voice, but his head had been covered by a helmet, that would be enough to augment anyone's voice, but she did recognize his touch, his grip on her shoulders as he protected her from the beams that nearly reduced her to ash.

Wait, wait, wait- Erica stopped her thoughts before they ran any further. How could Jason be the Red Ranger? That was just not possible. The Power Rangers couldn't be teenagers. That would be too risky.

But it's true, Jason is the Red Ranger and his friends are the rest of them. Look at them, they wear the truth upon their clothing.

Erica's eyes scanned the group of six teenagers and saw how each of Jason's friends wore some article of clothing that corresponded with a color of a Ranger. Erica also remembered that they had all been dressed similarly yesterday.

"Erica, would you do us the honors of reading the first two pages?"

"Uh, sure" Erica said as Ms. Appleby's voice broke her from her reverie. She opened the book and began reading.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxXXXXXXXXXXX

"I think we need to find out who this new Ranger is. Any ideas?" Trini asked as she and Kimberly walked into the Youth Center, both of them carrying big recycling buckets. School had ended and the girls were participating in their weekly Clean the School campaign.

"None." Kim said and huffed as she placed her bucket down next to a green bin with the recycle emblem printed on the side. She opened the bins lid and held it as Trini dumped her bucket in first, then picked up Kim's and poured hers in as well.

"It could be that new girl. You know, Erica." Kim said as she closed the lid and brushed her hands off. She and Trini headed for the bar. She was thirsty and thought a smoothie sounded delicious.

"Jason said the Stranger Ranger was definitely a guy."

"Oh, right. Well, what if she changed into a guy when she morphed?" Kimberly said and giggled in laughter.

"I don't think it works that way, Kim." Trini grinned and shook her head. They reached the bar and noticed Billy and Zack were already there, both slurping on a newly made slushie.

"Hey, have you guys seen Tommy? He said he was gonna meet me here at four-thirty."

"Relax, Kim, it's only four thirty-five." Zack said.

"Yo Zack, what's up?"

"Hey, Max, my main man!" Zack said said, grinning with surprise. He turned to greet Max with their usual handshake, a simple slap of the hand joining into a fist of friendship and them both letting go afterwards.

"Listen bro, I can't stay long but, I wanted to give you that Mix Tape you asked for."

"Cool, that's what's up, thanks man, I'm sure it's dope." Zack said as Max pulled a slim, black cassette tape out of the pocket of his dark jeans. He handed the tape to Zack.

"I hope it is, it's an old one of mine, but with some tracks you should remember. Peace out, man." Max replied. He disappeared back around the corner just as quickly as he had arrived.

Zack turned back around to see Kimberly and Trini looking at him questioningly.

"So?" Kimberly said sucking from the end of her livid pink strawed beverage. "Who was that?"

"What do you mean, 'who was that'? That, was Max."

"That was not Max, that was a hunk." Trini chimed in. She and Kim nodded heads in sincere agreement.

"He looked like normal Max to me." Billy chimed in.

Suddenly, six high pitched tones rang out on Zack's communicator.

At once, all of them looked around and collectively began to walk away. They gathered outside.

"Go ahead, Zordon." Zack said, giving the all clear.

"Zackary, you must head to the lake in the Park. There you will find, Jason and Tommy battling another one of Rita's evil minions. Take caution, this monster is particularly strong."

"We hear you, Zordon." Zack said into the communicator on his wrist.

With a final look around, the group of four pressed a button on the other side of their communicator and away they went, carried on the wind charged by molecules of Power.

They arrived at the park already morphed and quickly joined the fight that was raging between the two Rangers and some sort of Green humanoid who seemed to be made out of crystal. Jason and Tommy both had their weapons drawn and were readily using them against the assailant, but when they could land a blow, the monster was hardly damaged. Even worse, the monster disappeared and reappeared quickly behind the Red and Green Rangers and shot a powerful blast of crystalline energy at the pair.

"You think bringing your friends will help? Hah, hah, haa, I shall destroy them too! None of You are any match for me. Let me give you another demonstration of my Power!"

The Shardoline Entity disappeared once more and reappeared in the middle of the group.

It threw its hand down to the ground. Power crackled in the air and without warning shards of sharp crystal were flying at the Power Rangers from all directions. Millions of pin-needle fragments hurled at them, seemingly a trillion a second.

Jason watched helpless to defend himself or his friends

"Whoa, he's fast!" The Black Ranger commented. At once he he drew his Power Axe, pulled back the trigger to charge it and before Shardoline could move, a beam of energy shot from the end of the Axe.

"Zack, no!" Green Ranger yelled from behind his helmet and took off running as fast as he could towards the Black Ranger, but he was too late. The Shardoline Entity beamed out of the blasts way and reappeared behind Zack. Before Zack could get away, Shardoline thrust a crystal encrusted digit through the Black Rangers torso.

"ZACK!" THe six of them cried in unison, but they were too late for as the Entity withdrew its hand from the Black Rangers body they saw the crystal that had been embedded there, a crystal that grew in size and shape until it encased the Black Ranger entirely.

"Ha, hah, ha! Add that to your collection of 'Precious Things', Power Rangers!"


End file.
